CENTR

Working together for the Internet benefit

APTLD meeting, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaJuly 18, 2004

What is CENTR?

• Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries

• Forum for TLD managers– Primarily ccTLDs (but gTLDs )– Mainly European (but members from 5

continents)

CENTR’s history

• Established as a non-profit organisation in 1999– Originated out of a RIPE working group

• Steady growth of members (two new members at the last GA)

• Staff grown from one office to three – Oxford, Salzburg, Brussels

CENTR’s structure

• Executive Committee– 5 members, including the Chairman and

the Treasurer – 2 years appointment

• Secretariat– General Manager– Communication Officer– Technical Officer– Administrative Officer

CENTR’s office re-invention

• From September 1, 2004, CENTR offices will be relocated in Brussels

• Main targets of this change:– Closer contacts with the European

institutions– Enlarging our role in the Internet

industry – Improve the work efficiency

CENTR’s work flow

• The work flow is decided together by the Excom and the Secretariat

• CENTR Members gather at least four time a year during the GA

• CENTR Secretariat organises administrative, legal and technical workshops on a regular basis as well as ad-hoc ws

CENTR’s Membership

• 3 Members categories– Full Members– Associate Members– Observers

• Admission as new Member only with the consent of the simple majority of the Members

CENTR’s Membership

CENTR’s Membership• AFGNIC Afghanistan (.af)• STA Andorra (.ad)• ISOC.AM Armenia (.am)• NIC.AC Ascension Is. (.ac), Diego Garcia (.io), St

Helena (.sh)• NIC.AT Austria (.at)• DNS Belgium Belgium (.be)• Digital Systems Bulgaria (.bg)• CIRA Canada (.ca)• CARNet Croatia (.hr)• UCY-DNS Cyprus (.cy)• CZ.NIC Czech Republic (.cz)• DENIC Germany (.de)• FICORA Finland (.fi)• AFNIC France (.fr), Mayotte (.yt), Reunion (.re),

St. Pierre & Miquelon (.pm), Wallis & Futuna Is. (.wf )

• GibNet Gibraltar (.gi)• GR-Hostmaster Greece (.gr)• Island Networks Guernsey (.gg), Jersey (.je)• CHIP Hungary (.hu)• IEDR Ireland (.ie)• IPM Iran (.ir);• ISNIC Iceland (.is)• ISOC-IL Israel (.il)• IT-NIC Italy (.it)• JPRS Japan (.jp);• NIC.LY Libya (.ly)

•LITNET NOC Lithuania (.lt)•RESTENA DNS-LU Luxembourg (.lu)•NIC Malta Malta (.mt)•NIC-Mexico Mexico (.mx)•MoldData Moldova (.md)•SIDN Netherlands (.nl)•ISOCNZ New Zealand (.nz)•NORID Norway (.no), Bouvet Is. (.bv), Svalbard & Jan Mayen Is. (.sj)•Palestinian Registry Palestine (.ps)•NASK Poland (.pl)•FCCNPortugal (.pt)•RNC Romania (.ro)•Ros-NIIROS Russia (.ru)•RED.ES Spain (.es);•ARNES Slovenia (.si)•IIS Sweden (.se)•SWITCH Switzerland (.ch), Lichtenstein (.li)•SITA (.aero)•Nominet UK United Kingdom (.uk)•NeuStar United States of America (.us)•VeriSign (.com, .net)•Afilias (.info)•Public Interest Registry (.org)

CENTR’s position

• A “regional” ccTLD organisation– 3 others: LACTLD, AFTLD, APTLD

• No strict geographic boundaries like RIRs

• Recognised as a key representative body for TLDs (by ICANN, ITU, European Union, national governments etc.)

Benefits of diverse participation

• CENTR values participation from many different registries– Western and Eastern Europe, Americas, Asia, Oceania – Different regulatory regimes, Internet community

expectations, use of domain names etc.– Different challenges is ensuring stable DNS/Internet

• Provides diverse viewpoints– Brings different perspectives to discussion of issues– Helps CENTR define policies that benefit everyone– Comes to agreed opinions based on this dialogue within

CENTR, so there is a unified opinion to the global arena

Topical issues• ICANN, IANA

– Working with relevant parties – Important that the Internet root is stable

– but each country’s Internet community’s right to administer their own ccTLD

– Ensuring the IANA (root) services are run simply and effectively• ICANN fund• IANA shadowing

• ccNSO– Still under discussion

Topical issues• WSIS

– Accredited member of the process– Monitoring developments– Advocate private sector community based

leadership of Internet

• Internationalised Domain Names– Different approaches among our Members– Upcoming: IDN resource website

Topical issues• Membership mark

– Logo to be linked to a special page on CENTR website

• Outreach programme– Launched in February 2004– To support a stable and well functioning

Internet in developing regions of the world– Based on volounteer donations and on the

availability of CENTR Members

CENTR newsletterwww.centr.org/domainwire/

• Provide our Members with an inside view of the crucial matters

• Create awareness of CENTR and ccTLD issues

• Distributed at ICANN, ITU, and other meetings

• Plan to publish it on a regular basis

CENTR new websitewww.centr.org

• Plan to launch it by the end of July 2004

• New “style” to allow people to find better the information

Future Meetings

• General Assemblies 2004– Yerevan AM, Zürich CH

• Technical, Administrative, Legal workshops

• Regular RIPE meetings– CENTR and its members

present/participate in DNS working group, ENUM working group, etc.

CENTR’s long term vision• Expanding the dialogue among registries,

governments and international bodies• Improving the best practices exchange

among registries• Making the Internet a reliable, stable and

responsible structure• Working close to all the Internet-related

organisations• Acknowledging the competences and

expertise of each entity to provide the Internet with added values

Thanks for your attention

Giovanni SeppiaCENTR General Manager

giovanni@centr.org